Delivering Sustainability and Climate Resilience through Investments in Urban Environment
Olga Mrinska presented evaluation findings on sustainability and climate resilience in urban investment, with Theo Sands moderating. The discussion focused on the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development's Green Cities programme. Its Green City Action Plans connect municipal strategies with investment projects through a programmatic framework.
11 November 2025 | 10:45 GMT-3 to 11:15 GMT-3 | Belém, Brazil
The evaluation asked whether this approach improved integration, implementation, and climate relevance across participating cities. Deep-dive case studies examined governance, stakeholder participation, project alignment, and awareness. A separate buildings evaluation reviewed 13 projects in five countries. Certified engineers conducted site visits and compared energy, carbon-dioxide, and water-use data before and after rehabilitation. The Green Cities evaluation found that action plans helped bridge otherwise disconnected municipal strategies and investments. Common requirements also embedded governance, inclusion, environmental, and digital considerations across associated projects. Participatory plan preparation brought civil society and business stakeholders into municipal decision-making. The most expensive projects did not necessarily deliver the largest estimated emissions reductions. The evaluation recommended stronger modelling and clearer climate-impact reasoning in project approvals. It also warned that universal standards could lose local meaning through weak contextualization and translation. Many municipalities lacked adequate monitoring, reporting, and data-management capacity. Participating cities nevertheless showed demand for peer learning with cities facing comparable problems. Financial instruments needed to reflect local capital markets and governance conditions. Advanced markets could use sustainability-linked instruments, while other settings required simpler loans and technical cooperation. At the time of evaluation, long infrastructure timelines limited the available evidence on completed results. A planned follow-up would examine outcomes across the expanding portfolio. Mrinska framed independent evaluation as a learning resource rather than a compliance exercise. The session linked urban climate action to integrated planning, credible emissions analysis, local capacity, participatory governance, and finance suited to municipal conditions.